BHR cuts reactor development costs
15 Jan 2000
The results of a European Union-funded project may soon help chemical companies save time and money in the scale-up of experimental reactions, and slice millions from the costs of industrial processes. Finnish company Neste Chemicals is hoping to take advantage of the project, which developed and validated software tools which simulate fast exothermic and mixing-sensitive reactions.
The project, part of the EU's BRITE-EURAM scheme, aimed to fine-tune the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques used to model reactor designs. The BHR researchers incorporated meso- and micro-mixing effects into the CFD program, which greatly improved the prediction of distribution of products in the reactor; they also developed ways of modelling inter-phase heat and mass transfer. The project also used a new approach to predict droplet size in stirred reactors, which is vital information for scale-up projects.
Designing more efficient reactors will help researchers develop processes which produce less waste, and will also reduce the costs of separation processes, says BHR. Moreover, it will improve the safety of processes, as there will be less chance of thermal runaways.
Just as importantly, the new simulation package will reduce the time needed to develop new processes. Neste's process development R&D manager, Hannu Holma, estimates that the cuts in development time will reduce the cost of a project by up to E1/2million. Improving the accuracy of computer modelling will also cut the development labs' reliance on benchtop and pilot-scale experiments; this will cut costs even further, says Holma.
